MALCOLM McPhail and Perveez Mirza were the victorious pair as they beat Chris Pearce and Paul Rattue 6-2 in the annual Men’s Veterans Doubles Tennis Tournament at Preston Candover Tennis Club.

The final saw an exciting set and the first few games could have gone either way with both pairs playing some excellent tennis.

In the semi-finals McPhail and Mirza beat John Howell and Mark Grant 6-3, while in a real thriller Pearce and Rattue overcome Ishwerwood and Linscott 6-5.

The popular event saw 11 pairs take part split into two groups.

In Group One, the Waverley pairing of McPhail and Mirza took an early lead after two 6-1 wins against Tim Read and Graeme Mutch (Hook) and David Burrell (BDH) and Phil Hood (Oakley).

They were however taken all the way by Isherwood and Linscott (Andover) scraping through 6-5.

Their other success was against Darren Giddings (Beechdown) and Simon Wood (Hampshire Court) which gave them the winners position in the group.

Isherwood and Linscott were second in the group, with Giddings and Wood in third place.

Group Two was a close run affair with Pearce (Kingsclere) and Rattue (Oakley) the favourites to win the group.

They showed their true competitiveness winning all their sets with some of them being very closely fought sets with the closest being a 6-4 win against Howell and Grant (Kintbury).

They also had to fight hard against the local pairing of Steve Grove and Tim Blockley (Preston Candover) winning 6-3.

The pairing of Rex Groves and Tim Rice (Totally Tennis) won three of their five sets including a good 6-5 against Grove and Blockley and 6-3 over Tony Vanderslott and Jeff Watson (Waverley).

Howell and Grant had a tight set against Trevor Blake and Bill Stuart (Andover) winning 6-5 and take second spot in the group.

The organisers would like to thank Preston Candover for the use of their courts and facilities.